How the Bragging Contest Affects Your Reputation – Part 1

You may not know this, but every day, you are entered into the Bragging Contest. Every day judges are giving you a score. We are all contestants in the Bragging Contest. That’s right, even YOU. If you don’t want to participate, if you had no idea that you’re a contestant, if you never play, then you’ve probably lost this contest more times than you think. You might even be the “biggest loser” of this contest, and you don’t even know it.

You can’t afford to lose this contest. This contest will affect you. So, let me tell you what it is and why you have to compete.

The Bragging Contest

What it is: The Bragging Contest is the game about your reputation. It is your chance to manage your reputation. You play it by sharing good things about yourself, called “brags,” with other people. You win if your reputation has improved by the end of the game.

Contestants: The contestants are everyone in a group of people that you know and interact with. They could be a group of people at work, at school, at home, in a community service organization you are part of, or anywhere else where you are a part of something.

When is it played: This game is played all the time – Monday mornings by the coffee machine, Thursday nights at a bar, in a meeting, on the phone, everywhere you interact with someone in your groups.

Rules: The rules are simple: the person who shares the best information about himself wins. There are no rules on how you share that information. The only rule is that you have to share or you will lose.

Judges: The judges are the group of people who have an opinion about you such as your peers, your bosses, or your friends and family.

How and when do you win: The winner is decided on a daily basis since you can improve your reputation every time you share something about yourself. Sometimes, there is not a clear winner, but your goal is not to be the loser.

The Bragging Contest is happening all around you. It directly affects your reputation and what people think about you. People are playing it all the time so they can boost their own reputations. It is your responsibility to play, but also your chance to improve your own reputation. Bragging is not a bad thing as long as you do it well. Bragging about yourself helps other people know who you are, what you’ve done and what you are capable of. It can give you recognition, respect and reward for your hard work, and make you look good.

Let me give you an example. At work, your reputation is really important. If you’re looking for a promotion, if you want respect, then not only do you have to work hard, but you have to make sure that people know about the work. The “I’m a Hard Worker” Bragging Contest is played all the time at work. I’m sure you’ve heard many co-workers talk about how late they stayed or how they came in on the weekend, or how much more time they put in. These are the people that come to mind when your boss and your co-workers (the “Judges”) think about the hard workers at the company. If you don’t participate in this contest, you may lose that next promotion or raise. Participate, and you may find yourself in the corner office one day. It’s great to be a hard worker, but nobody will know if you don’t play the “I’m a Hard Worker” Bragging Contest.

People will judge you whether you want them to or not. Even if they don’t know anything about you, they will still have an opinion based on what they’ve seen or heard. The Bragging Contest is one of the few places where you get to do some reputation management and shape the gossip, personal opinions and constant judgments that people are making about you. It directly impacts your reputation because it is what people hear about you from YOU. You don’t always have to win, sometimes you can tie, but you HAVE to enter.

Since we all have to play this game, I will try and teach you as much as I can about it. In the next series of articles, I will tell you more about the different types of bragging contests that are played, teach you how to play, and finally, hopefully, teach you strategies to improve your chances of winning. For now, start playing or you will never be the winner.